Chapter 16

Toward a New Heaven and a New Earth:

The Scientific Revolution and the
Emergence of Modern Science

Timeline

Background to the Scientific

Revolution
Medieval Science
Renaissance Humanists
Contradictions of Aristotle and Galen

Renaissance artists and their impact on scientific study

Close Observation of Nature
Perspective and Anatomical Proportions

Technical Problems
Mathematics
Hermetic Magic
Alchemy

Toward a New Heaven: A

Revolution in Astronomy
Aristotle, Claudius Ptolemy and Christian Theology
Geocentric Universe
Ten Spheres surrounded the Earth
Christianized Ptolemaic Universe

Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 1543)
On The Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres
Heliocentric Universe
Creates doubt about the Ptolemaic system

A Revolution in Astronomy,
Continued
Johannes Kepler (1571 1630)
Interest in Hermetic thought and Mathematical magic
Music of the Spheres
Laws of Planetary Motion
Discredits Ptolemaic System

Galileo Galilei (1564 1642)

The Telescope
The Starry Messenger
Condemned by the Church
Scientific leadership passes to England, France and the
Netherlands

Isaac Newton (1642 1727)

Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge
University
Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy (1684 1686): The Principia
Three Laws of Motions

Gravity
World seen in mechanistic terms
God

Advances in Medicine
Medieval Medicine dominated by Galen
Andreas Vesalius (1514 1564)
On the Fabric of the Human Body (1543)
Dissection of a human body
Corrects Galens errors

William Harvey
On the Motion of the Heart and Blood (1628)
Circulation of the blood

Women in the Origins of Modern

Science
New Opportunities for Women
Largely informal education
Margaret Cavendish (1623 1673)
Observations upon Experimental Philosophy
Grounds of Natural Philosophy
Attacked rationalist and empiricist approaches to scientific
knowledge

German Women
1 of 7 German astronomers was a woman
Maria Winkelmann (1670 1720)
Discovered comet
Rejected for a post by the Berlin Academy

Debate over the nature and value

of women
Women portrayed as inherently base, prone to
vice, easily swayed, and sexually insatiable
Women joined debate in the 17th century and
reject this view
Science used to perpetrate old stereotypes about
women
Scientific revolution reaffirmed traditional ideas
about womens nature

Toward a New Earth: Descartes,

Rationalism, and a New View of
Humankind
Rene Descartes (1596 1650)
Discourse on Method (1637)
I think, therefore I am.
Separation of mind and matter
Cartesian Dualism
Father of modern rationalism

Science and Religion in the

Seventeenth Century
Conflict between Science and Religion
Scientific beliefs triumph
Religious beliefs suffer

Blaise Pascal (1623 1662)

Sought to keep science and religion united
Mystical vision (1654)
Penses (Thoughts)
Sought to convert rationalists to Christianity
Christianity not contrary to reason
Reason had limits

The Spread of Scientific

Knowledge
The Scientific Method
Francis Bacon (1561 1626)

Rejects Copernicus and Kepler; Misunderstands Galileo

The Great Instauration (The Great Restoration)
Correct Scientific Method built on inductive principles
Proceed from the particular to the general
Experimentation
Control and domination of nature

Descartes
Deduction and mathematical logic

Newton
Unites Bacons empiricism and Descartes rationalism

The Scientific Societies

English Royal Society
Informal meetings at London and Oxford
Received formal charter in 1662 from Charles II

French Royal Academy

Informal meetings in Paris
Formally recognized by Louis XIV (1666)

Societies recognized practical value of scientific

research
Both focus on theoretical work in mechanics and
astronomy

Science and Society

People recognized Sciences rational
superiority
Science offered new ways to exploit
resources for profit

Discussion Questions
How did the Middle Ages and the Renaissance contribute to the
Scientific Revolution?
Why were advances in Mathematics so important during the
Scientific Revolution?
Why did religious leaders react so negatively to the new
advances in Science, especially in astronomy?
Why is Newtons Principia called the hinge point of modern
scientific thought?
How did women come to play such an important role in the
Scientific Revolution?
How did Pascal try to keep science and religion united? Why?

Web Links
The Scientific Revolution Homepage
The Alchemy Website
The Galileo Project
Internet History of Science Sourcebook
Luther and Science
Historical Anatomies on the Web